The recently published study by the consultancy Standort + Markt (S+M) takes a closer look at Austria’s shopping mall and retail park landscape. Its findings will sound familiar to industry professionals across Western Europe: the era of shopping center expansion has largely come to an end, traditional retail categories are losing ground, discount formats are spreading rapidly, and operators are adapting their assets through repositioning and diversification.
A Stable but Mature Market
Austria currently counts 251 shopping centers, comprising 131 traditional shopping malls and 120 retail parks. Together they account for more than 4.3 million sq m of gross leasable area and roughly 8,600 shops. In 2025 these centers attracted around 570 million visits and generated close to €16 billion in retail turnover.
These figures confirm that shopping centers remain an important part of Austria’s retail landscape. Roughly every fifth euro spent in Austrian retail is generated in a shopping center environment.
At the same time, the market has clearly reached maturity. While the total leasable area has more than doubled since 2000, over the past decade annual growth in leasable area has remained below 2.5 percent.
New developments are rare. The few additions to the market are mainly the result of redevelopment projects rather than entirely new centers. In particular, former department store properties – including several former kika/Leiner locations after the furniture retailer filed for bankruptcy in December 2024.
Diverging Performance Between Formats
The S+M analysis also highlights the increasingly different trajectories of shopping malls and retail parks. Retail parks have shown somewhat stronger performance in recent years.
One explanation lies in their tenant structure. Retail parks typically focus on everyday consumer needs such as groceries, drugstores, and discount retail, which tend to perform more consistently during economically uncertain periods. Shopping malls, by contrast, rely more heavily on discretionary retail segments, particularly fashion.
This difference is reflected in recent performance. Retail parks recorded moderate real revenue growth in the past two years, while turnover growth in shopping malls remained weaker and in some cases below inflation.
Over the longer term, retail parks have steadily increased their share of the overall shopping center landscape. They now account for around 28.5 percent of the total leasable area in Austrian shopping centers, reflecting their continued relevance within the sector.
Vacancy and Consolidation
Another indicator of the structural transition is a gradual increase in vacancy. The number of vacant retail units has risen to roughly 700, corresponding to around eight percent of all shop units and a vacancy rate of about 5.5 percent by area.
Vacancy is particularly visible in shopping malls, where the rate has climbed to around 6.3 percent. Retail parks remain more stable, with vacancy levels of about 3.6 percent.
Several factors are driving this development. Insolvencies, the restructuring of retail chains, and the consolidation of store networks have left gaps in many centers. At the same time, operators increasingly merge smaller units into larger spaces to accommodate stronger tenants or to introduce new concepts.
As a result, the total number of shops has slightly declined despite several additional centers being included in the market survey. The trend reflects not only vacancies but also a broader shift toward larger units and alternative uses such as education facilities, medical practices, or office space.
A Changing Tenant Mix
The transformation of the tenant structure is another defining feature of the current market phase.
The dominance of chain retailers continues to increase. Approximately 74 percent of all shops in Austrian shopping centers belong to retail chains, representing more than 90 percent of total sales space. Independent retailers play only a marginal role in most centers and remain primarily concentrated in city centers rather than malls.
Within the tenant mix, several shifts are visible. Discount-oriented concepts have expanded significantly. Retailers such as Woolworth, Action, TEDi and similar are gaining space in both retail parks and shopping malls. With Woolworth currently being the fastest growing brand in Austria.
Meanwhile, traditional categories – especially apparel and certain furniture or home-related segments – are losing ground. The decline is partly the result of insolvencies and partly due to strategic withdrawals by international brands adjusting their physical store networks.
At the same time, non-retail functions are gradually becoming more prominent. Food and beverage concepts, services, and leisure offerings such as fitness centers increasingly serve as anchors and frequency drivers, particularly in larger malls.
For industry professionals, these shifts are hardly surprising. Comparable trends can be observed across Western Europe, where shopping centers are evolving from purely retail environments toward broader mixed-use destinations.
Outlook: Adaptation Over Expansion
Looking ahead, Austria’s shopping center market is unlikely to see another major wave of development. Instead, the sector is expected to continue along its current path of selective repositioning and functional diversification.
Macroeconomic conditions have recently improved somewhat. Inflation is declining, real incomes are gradually rising again, and consumer sentiment is stabilizing. These factors could support retail spending in the coming years.
However, structural change will continue to shape the market. Online retail will keep gaining share, even if growth rates are stabilizing. This trend reinforces the need for physical retail locations to sharpen their positioning.
For operators, the key challenge will be adaptability – adjusting tenant mixes, integrating complementary uses, and redefining the role of physical retail space within a changing consumer landscape.
